[Bloquez l'empire!] Report: "Pettigrew, tu tue nos enfants en Haiti!"

[aaron at resist.ca]

Pettigrew, tu tue nos enfants en Haiti!
{Pettigrew, you're killing our kids in Haiti!}

by Aaron Lakoff

http://aaron.resist.ca/?q=node/57

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To view a photo-essay from the demonstration, visit:
http://gallery.cmaq.net/pettigew
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Montreal, January 2, 2006 - Exactly 202 years and one day after the slaves
of the colony of Hispaniola succeeded in overthrowing their French masters
and colonizers – leading to the birth of the republic of Haiti – about 45
members of the Haitian community gathered in the Villeray area of Montreal
to celebrate, but also to vent their rage.

The celebration was of course Haiti’s independence day, observed on
January 1st every year.  The occasion was marked in Montreal with a
festive atmosphere, upbeat Haitian kompa music, and dancing in the cold
and icy streets.

However, the gathering was also fueled with anger, as the crowd assembled
outside the riding office of Pierre Pettigrew, Canada’s Foreign Affairs
Minister.  It is safe to say that Pettigrew could easily be one of the
most detested figures amongst the Haitian community these days.  Pettigrew
has overseen an abhorrent Canadian presence in Haiti in the aftermath of
the 2004 coup d’etat which ousted democratically-elected leader
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  Thousands of Haitians have been killed since this
coup, and the victims are more often than not targeted for their
affiliation to Aristide’s Lavalas movement, according to Amnesty
International.

However, when Pettigrew was questioned in 2005 about a University of Miami
human rights investigation in Haiti which brought these points to light,
he dismissed this as “propaganda which is completely uninteresting”.  He
preferred instead to gloss over the matter and talk abstractly about the
wonderful role Canada is playing in bringing democracy to the poor
Caribbean nation.

Amidst the jubilant flag waving, there was also a marked anger in the air.
 Cries of “Pettigrew assassin!” and “Stop the genocide in Cite Soley!
Stop the genocide in Belair! Freedom for Haiti!” could be heard throughout
the neighborhood with a large immigrant and Haitian population.

Many people spoke passionately in French and Creole about the pitiful role
that Canada is playing in Haiti, sending RCMP officers to train the brutal
Haitian National Police (HNP), and offering their support for an election
process that many have denounced as sham ‘selections’.  As one speaker put
it more bluntly, “Canada is colonizing Haiti!”

Attention was also largely focused on the Canadian media, and the role
they play in the coup.  As video footage was shown from Kevin Pina’s film
“Haiti:  The Untold Story”, speakers declared that media outlets who
didn’t show these images of Haitians being killed by the HNP and the UN
were complicit in the coup, and propagating racism.

Food staples such as rice and beans were also piled up in front of
Pettigrew’s office doors, with a note demanding that he deliver the food
to disadvantaged communities in Haiti.  Chavannes Clerveaux, a local
Haitian musician and one of the organizers of the demonstration, explains,
“As our brothers and sisters are picking through garbage for food, Canada
is participating in massacres!”

Amongst the demands the demonstrators were making were an immediate
repatriation of all Canadian forces currently in Haiti, and for a public
investigation into the genocide perpetrated in Haiti between February 2004
and December 2005.  If this investigation isn’t launched by January 15th,
the community is ready to follow up with action.  As the presidential
elections were delayed in Haiti again, Haitians in Canada are determined
to take advantage of our own elections to put some heat on the rulers.

Perhaps given Pettigrew’s role in the Haitian crisis, he chose a bad
riding to run in.  Villeray is now riddled with posters which declare
“Pettigrew: Wanted for War Crimes in Haiti”.  The postering campaign was
initiated by Haiti Action Montreal, and many activists here are determined
to bring down Pettigrew in the upcoming federal elections on January 23rd.

For more information on Haiti Action, visit www.outofhaiti.ca.

(Aaron Lakoff is an activist and independent journalist with CKUT
community radio in Montreal.  He can be reached at aaron at resist dot ca.
 For other writings, see http://aaron.resist.ca)